The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love Christmas, but this year (obviously) was so special! Ironically it was also the most low-key and relaxed Christmas that we've had in...well, ever I think. I was in no condition to travel still, so the Millward Trio stayed in Winchester. It looked like we were going to have a White Christmas, but all of the snow stayed to the south and east of us. Not that it really mattered that much to me, as I haven't been out of the house but about 6 times since Gideon was born. Mama and Trent spent a long weekend with us, which was awesome! Good cooking and good conversation. Trent brought the Wii, so he and Babe were totally preoccupied with that, leaving Mama and me to chat and coo over Gideon.

Gideon continues to grow like a weed - I haven't weighed him since his 3 week check up, but I know he is quite the little butterball! He is smiling all the time now and tries very hard to laugh, but hasn't exactly gotten the hang of that yet. He did learn how to cough one morning while he was eating and now thinks that is the funniest trick ever and will make himself cough and then smile and coo. What a ham! He is super talkative and loves to have conversation with anyone that will make eye contact with him. He is sleeping for longer periods of time at night, anywhere from 4.5-5.5 hours!! In fact, he gave me a wonderful Christmas gift of 7 hours of straight sleep Christmas Eve night!!!! Of course, that hasn't happened since, but oh well!

I've had many visitors lately, and Gideon has tons of playmates that have come around to meet him. It's crazy how many of my friends have babies all so close in age with Gideon! And most of them boys too.

I am seeing a physical therapist and chiropractor to help with my recovery. Everyone seems pleased with how well I am healing, although I am impatient! Nevertheless, it has only been 6 weeks since Gideon was born and considering everything that I went through, I have to admit I am progressing well. It's the smallest of victories that I am proud of, although I will be so happy when I carry get around by myself and carry Gideon without help! Not that he seems to mind ;o) Babe has been a huge help - cooking, grocery shopping, bathing Gideon, etc, etc...What a great guy <3

Catching Up



Quality Time with Daddy



Hangin' with Nana

Wow! Time flies....It has been almost three weeks since I was able to post last and so much as has happened. Babe is back to work and Gideon and I miss him so much. Gideon seems to know when Daddy is coming home and wakes up to play. It is so precious - he gets so excited, waving his hands and talking and kicking! He definitely plays with Daddy differently than Mama! I'm still recuperating from the delivery and haven't been out of the house except to go see my midwives. Gideon is now 24 inches and weighs over 11 pounds! What a little milk monster!! My mom has been here with us this past week - LOVE it!!! What precious time to spend with her and Gideon. And G loves his Nana ;o)



It's so hard to believe that it's almost Christmas. I am so out of it this year! We had the first "snow" of the season 2 days ago. It was only a dusting, but was enough to put me in the holiday spirit! I finally got Babe to get the decorations out of the garage yesterday and I put a few things up in the house. Absurd how quickly that wore me out! We were hoping to get our tree today, but it was raining, so it will have to wait I guess. Seems weird that the last time I was really out in "the swing of things" it wasn't even Thanksgiving and now Christmas is less than two weeks away! Luckily, I will be doing all my shopping online through our business, since I haven't/can't get out!

Gideon has learned how to smile and does so all the time now! He is such a happy baby. He is also holding his head up and will push himself up and look around when I put him on his tummy. Amazing how quickly he is growing and changing. Our kitties are slowly adjusting to having a baby in the house - we've only had two "angry" moments. Gideon seemed to notice them for the first time the other day. He was waving his hands and touched Gracie's tail. He wasn't really sure if he liked that texture! He does seem to be a physical touch baby (from the 5 Love Languages book). He is constantly stroking things and that seems to calm him down too. He loves to pat me while he is eating - precious!!

All dressed to see Tierney!











A World of Firsts

My little warrior has had many firsts in the past two weeks. Not to mention all the firsts for Babe and me!! Gideon was 9lbs, 4oz when he was born, 9lbs the following day and 10lbs at his one week check up!


Tierney and Gideon

Our first week included visits from Nana, Paw-Paw, Aunt Bethany, Grandma Mary and Aunt Erin, and Grandpa Hank and Grandma Betty. Phew!! Lots of visitors...especially since Gideon and I were on strict bed rest!

Nana!!!

My mom stayed with us for most of the first week. Thank goodness!! I was pretty weak and we needed all the help we could get :o)

Paw-Paw

My dad came up the morning after Gideon was born and stayed for the day. He was so excited to meet his grandson!

Aunt Bethany

Aunt Bethany came to visit Wednesday while my mom ran home to take care of some things. She couldn't get enough of my baby!!



Grandma Mary

  Mary and Erin had been planning a visit for months and couldn't wait to hold him!

Aunt Erin has the touch!

Grandpa Hank and Grandma Betty came up for a quick visit and couldn't get enough of Gideon! There were so many camera flashes, I thought the paparazzi was in my bedroom!  

By Sunday, all our visitors had gone home and the Millward Trio was alone for the first time. It was really nice to be home for a few days as a new family. Babe and I seriously just sit and stare at Gideon...he's so perfect!

We gave Gideon his first bath - not a huge success...he spit up, peed on me and then pooped his diaper as soon as he got out. He was cleaner before his bath than after! LOL...Tierney gave us suggestions for the next one (which was a HUGE success).

My precious baby boy - one week old!!



Our Miracle!!

Well, it's been two weeks since Gideon was born, but I swear it mostly feels like a minute! At the same time, I look at his sweet face and can't imagine my life before him.

So here is how it went down...

Sunday, November 14th - I woke up and knew that I was going to have a baby that day. I told Craig and he laughed since we'd been confessing that for weeks now. However, we went to church and I began having very mild pre-labor contractions (nothing new there - had been experiencing those regularly for over a month!). At the conclusion of service, we always get some Panera bagels and bread to take home and this morning I spied a yummy danish ring and I told Babe to grab it "because I am having this baby today and I need something to feed the midwives!". He thought I was joking, but I meant it!!!

Next, we went to run some errands and I noticed that the contractions were getting closer together, so I decided to start timing them. As we walked around Target and Best Buy, they were coming about every 4.5 minutes and lasting about a minute. This lasted about an hour, so we decided to call Tierney. She suggested that we go home and eat lunch and just keep an eye on them. As we pulled out of the Best Buy parking lot, I accidently dropped Babe's Droid in a cup of water!!! (It was sitting on my lap and it fell in as we turned). Needless to say, Babe was stressed! He sped home, ran inside and began "surgery" on his phone - leaving me feeling terrible and oh yeah - the contractions stopped! So now I am sitting on the couch crying #1 because I was sure that I was going into labor and then the contractions suddenly stopped and #2 because I was sure I had ruined Babe's super expensive phone....Long story short, phone is fine and contractions started up as my stress level went down.

Around 4pm, we decided to go for a walk and get this party started. We walked about 2 miles and by now the contractions were consistently every 4 minutes, lasting a minute. We called Tierney again and she decided to come over and check me. At about 6pm, I was only 2 cm dilated and 40-50% effaced! I was distraught! She went home and told us to just keep an eye on things and call her if anything changed. So we had supper and started to get ready for bed. I had decided to begin my maternity leave on Monday, so I called work and set all that up. I eventually fell asleep on the couch, frustrated that I hadn't gone into labor and that I was STILL pregnant.

Around 11pm, a contraction woke me up. I lay on the couch and had a few more and knew that this was IT!! I was in labor - Thank the Lord! I got up, washed my face, told Craig how I was feeling and called my mom around midnight. At a little after 1 in the morning, we called Tierney again and told her it was time. She got there about 2 and checked me - I hadn't made ANY progress since that afternoon!! I was still 2 cm and 50% effaced....so she and Lori (my other midwife) went home and told us to call when things "really got rolling". They instructed us to get as much rest as possible - to which Babe really took to heart! So, Babe and I get in bed, he falls right to sleep and I labor for the next few hours...at 4am, everything kicked into high gear and I knew there was no going back - Gideon was coming!! Mama got there around 5 and she began timing the contractions - every 3-4 minutes, lasting about 1 to 1.5 minutes. Some time around 8, she suggested to Babe that he call Tierney back because she felt like I was in transition. Tierney was here in minutes. She checked me and announced that I was complete and just then my water broke! Everyone jumped into action at this point - Gideon was coming! And FAST!

I was ready to start pushing around 11. We fully expected Gideon to be born by noon. But by 1, I hadn't made much progress and my cervix was beginning to swell, so into the tub I go. No pushing for an hour they told me! Holy moly - that was intense....for the next 4 hours I pushed and pushed and pushed. We tried every position imaginable but Gideon just wasn't coming. Tierney determined that his head was in a posterior position and that he was stuck in my pelvis. We tried everything to get his little (well not so little as it turned out!) head to turn so that he could descend. Nothing was working. I was totally spent, and so was everyone else! At 6pm, Tierney calmly announced that there was nothing else that she could do and that if Gideon wasn't born in the next 30 minutes, we would have to go to the hospital for a c-section.

When she told me this, I knew that would never happen. I looked her in the eye and calmly said "No. No. No. No." What happened next can only be described as a miracle...I had this unreal sense of peace fill me and I closed my eyes and began to pray. Now, all I remember is praying silently in my head, but according to Mama, Babe and the midwives, I began praying aloud as well. Mama said it was like I was having a conversation with Jesus and that it was like He was in the room and I could see Him. Suddenly, my contractions became extremely forceful and this wave of renewed strength came over me. I began pushing like I hadn't pushed all day. In my mind, I saw Gideon's head and beyond it I saw a circle of light and I knew that I just had to push him toward it. And that is exactly what I began to do. As I was seeing all of this in my mind's eye, Mama, Babe, and the midwives were witnessing my miracle. With no assistance, Gideon's head began to turn - he dropped into the correct position and began to descend (all the while I am still praying aloud, totally unbeknowst to me!). Within minutes, I was crowning and then precious Gideon Andrew was in my arms!!!! What I (and my midwives) had not been able to do in 6 hours, God did in about 15 minutes!!! Praise the Lord.

Gideon Andrew Millward, born 11/15/10 at 6:24pm
9lbs, 4 oz  22.5 in. long


As I sit here, 2 weeks later, most of Gideon's labor and delivery are already a blur. I don't remember the pain. In fact, I didn't recall the pain of the contractions by the next day. While 6 hours of pushing is extreme and my body hasn't quite recovered yet, I don't remember the trauma of it. I only remember the second I saw my son's sweet face and the peace of Jesus that remains with me now. God delivered both of us that day and truly my life will never be the same.


God truly was with us!



Counting the Minutes

So, we are 39 weeks pregnant and I have nested and nested and there is nothing left in this house to clean! All the laundry has been washed, folded and put away, the carpets have been steam-cleaned, the floors mopped, the bathrooms are sparkling, the nursery is ready and the pantry is stocked! So with nothing else to do around the house and Gideon holding out, I have determined to turn to starting a blog. Since none of our family is close, hopefully this will provide a way for everyone to keep up with the Millward Trio. 

 We are so excited to meet Gideon. We are planning a home birth with two wonderful midwives. Babe will be catching Gideon! (This would be part of the granola - LOL) Our pregnancy has been so blessed and joyous, nonetheless, I am quite ready to deliver and hold my precious baby boy in my arms.